Reports of wood mouse arboreality are rather scarce outside Britain. I reviewed and analysed 267 visits and 16,456 checks of glirids artificial nest-boxes mounted on trees, in twelve sample areas of Meso- and Supra-Mediterranean woodlands (Sicily, 1995–2005). The wood mouse was recorded only 65 times (0.395%) using the artificial nest-boxes in nine sample areas, and based on this low frequency, the wood mouse can be considered as an occasional dweller of artificial nest-boxes. The resource selection index allowed checking the use respect to the availability of nest-boxes placed at different heights. These were likely reached by climbing the dense understorey and low tree branches up to 5 m, but nest-boxes in the two lower classes (0.5–1.0 and 1.1–1.5 m) were used more than those in the two higher classes (1.6–2.0 and 2.1–5.0 m). ANOVA results suggested that the box use was not related to any particular habitat or sample area feature, and it was slightly more pronounced from March to May. Regardless of their age and sex, individuals mostly exploited nest-boxes placed near the ground (0.5–1.5 m) and generally for 2–3 months. Nonetheless, cases of consecutive use for longer periods and instances of reproduction inside nest-boxes showed that some individuals extended their home range also to the vertical dimension.
To estimate the size of fish taken as prey by piscivorous predators, linear or non-linear relationships between bone measures (pharyngeal, opercula, cleithra, anal and dorsal spine bones, otoliths) and body length were elaborated for eleven Eurasian cyprinid fish species captured in three lakes of Turkey: rudd Scardinius erythrophthalmus, Baltic vimba Vimba vimba, Danube bleak Chalcalburnus chalcoides, gibel carp Carassius gibelio, roach Rutilus rutilus, silver bream Blicca bjoerkna, common carp Cyprinus carpio, chub Leuciscus cephalus, Dnieper chub Petroleuciscus borysthenicus, tench Tinca tinca and tarek Alburnus tarichi (endemic species for Lake Van). All calculated regressions were highly significant, with coefficients of determination >81% in most of cases. The results suggest that the biometric relationships between fish length and some bones (pharyngeal, opercula, cleithra) are well suited for use in prey-predator studies of all the studied species, but otoliths and the dorsal and anal spines can be used for some fish species only (rudd, Baltic vimba, roach, silver bream, gibel carp).
A comparison of the effects of ultrasound produced by low- and high-frequency ultrasonic apparatuses upon biological systems is one of the basic problems when studying ultrasound cavitation effects. One possibility for how to compare these effects is the indirect method which uses well-known physical quantities characterizing the interaction of ionizing radiation with matter and which also converts these quantities to one common physical quantity. The comparison was performed with two methods applied to the chemical dosimetry of ionizing radiation. The first method employed a twocomponent dosimeter which is composed of 50 % chloroform and 50 % re-distilled water (i.e. Taplin dosimeter). The other method used a modified iodide dosimeter prepared from a 0.5 M potassium iodide solution. After irradiation or ultrasound exposure, measurable chemical changes occurred in both dosimeters. The longer the exposure, the greater the chemical changes. These effects are described by the relationship of these changes versus the exposure times in both dosimeters. The UZD 21 ultrasonic disintegrator (with a frequency of 20 kHz, 50 % power output) was used as a lowfrequency ultrasound source, and the BTL-07 therapeutic instrument (with a frequency of 1 MHz and intensity of 2 W/cm2) was used as a high-frequency cavitation ultrasound source. For comparison, a 60Co gamma source was applied (60Co, gamma energies of 1.17 and 1.33 MeV, activity of 14 PBq). Results of this study have demonstrated that the sonochemical products are generated during exposure in the exposed samples of both dosimeters for all apparatuses used. The amount of these products depends linearly upon the exposure time. The resulting cavitation effects were recalculated to a gray-equivalent dose (the proposed unit is cavitation gray [cavitGy]) based on the sonochemical effects compared to the effects of ionizing radiation from the 60Co source., B. Kratochvíl, V. Mornstein., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Presented study is aimed at using additional information to improve process represen-tativity of hydrological modelling. The study region is the Haute-Mentue catchment lo-cated in the western part of Switzerland, 20 km north of Lausanne. Previous research in this catchment allowed improving of the understanding of the runoff generation by combining point soil moisture measurements (TDR) and integrating measurements both at the hillslope scale (dye tracing) and at the catchment scale (environmental tracing). In this work, environmental tracing information will be integrated into a semi-distributed hydrological model, which is a modified version of TOPMODEL taking into account a rapid stormflow generation above a less permeable soil horizon. Additional information has been incorporated by using a version of simulated annealing adapted for multi-criteria optimisation. and Štúdia je venovaná využitiu dodatkových informácií pri reálnejšej simulácii hydrologických procesov v zrážkovo-odtokovom modeli. Študovanou oblasťou je povodie Haute-Mentue, ležiace v západnej časti Švajčiarska, 20 km od Lausanne. Predchádzajúci výskum v tomto povodí, založený na kombinácii bodových meraní (TDR) a integrovaných meraní v mierke svahu (farbiace skúšky) a povodia (prirodzené stopovače), zlepšil vedomosti o tvorbe odtoku. V tejto štúdii sú informácie získané prirodzenými stopovačmi použité pri posudzovaní výsledkov simulácie odtoku pomocou semidistribuovaného hydrologického modelu (modifikovaná verzia modelu TOPMODEL, ktorá uvažuje s mechanizmom tvorby odtoku nasýtením nad vrstvou pôdy s nižšou priepustnosťou). Ďalšou dodatkovou informáciou boli výsledky automatickej optimalizácie parametrov modelu pmocou metódy vychádzajúcej z analógie medzi optimalizáciou parametrov modelu a rozdelením častíc v tuhnúcej kvapaline (tzv. simulated annealing), adaptovanej na optimalizáciu podľa viacerých kritérií.
Modern methods of monitoring landslides are based on observations of both: direct surveying (GNSS, electronic tachymetry, geometric levelling) and remote sensing (terrestrial and aerial photogrammetry, laser scanning, interferometry), as well as surface and subsurface geotechnical observations (e.g. inclinometers, extensometers, piezometers, etc.). Due to the high cost of installation of these devices and its measurement, the implementations of these methods are usually used on well-define d objects, with established landslide activity and high risk to people’s lives. The main objective of the project was to design, create and do practical tests of simple and inexpensive measurement devices, which detect first symptoms of a potential landslide movements and alert of an existing threat. These devices would be some kind of an early warning system that would register the occurrence of the first movements of the surface layers of soil, which would be a signal to start of geodetic and geotechnical monitoring of potential landslides., Bartłomiej Ćmielewski, Bernard Kontny and Kazimierz Ćmielewski., and Obsahuje bibliografické odkazy
In the deep and slightly eutrophic dam part of the Římov Reservoir (Czech Republic), the fish use of open water habitat was studied by means of gillnetting, hydroacoustics and diet analyses during the period from April to October 2005. The day and night acoustic surveys revealed majority of pelagic fish present in the upper 5 m of the water column. The highest gillnet catches of planktivorous fish in epipelagic waters were obtained in May and August. The lowest fish catches were recorded in April and October which resulted in significant positive correlation between the gillnet catch per unit effort and water temperature. The majority of captured fish were adults of three cyprinid species: roach Rutilus rutilus, bleak Alburnus alburnus and bream Abramis brama. In the early spring the food of the three species was diversified: bream consumed primarily cyclopoid copepods, bleak fed on terrestrial insects, and gut content of pelagic roach consisted mainly of littoral food components, algae and detritus. In the late spring and summer however, the diets of all three cyprinids were predominated by large cladocerans, thus proving the use of open water habitat abundant in this prey.
Three cultivars of winter hexaploid triticales M2A/JAIN, DF 99/Yogu "S5", and Asseret were grown on nutrient solution with or without 75 mM NaCl. Stomatal permeability and transpiration rate decreased in all salt-stressed triticale cultivars. Net photosynthetic rate (PN) of cv. M2A and Asseret was not affected by NaCl. On the contrary, PN in cv. DF99 was reduced in relation to control plants. A higher water-use efficiency under saline conditions led to better salt tolerance of cv. M2A compared to cvs. Asseret and DF99. and A. Morant-Avice ... [et al.].
Size-frequency data were collected for two rheophilic fish species, Cottus perifretum and Leuciscus cephalus, at the confluences of 18 lowland tributaries along the regulated River Meuse (the Netherlands) between May 2004 and April 2005. Cottus perifretum is a resident species, using these stream mouth habitats throughout its entire life: i.e. as a spawning, nursery and adult habitat. Leuciscus cephalus is a transient species that uses these stream mouth habitats only as a temporary 0+ juvenile habitat during fall and early winter. This study suggests that the stream mouth habitats along the River Meuse fulfil different ecological functions for C. perifretum and L. cephalus.
At present, chlorophyll meters are widely used for a quick and nondestructive estimate of chlorophyll (Chl) contents in plant leaves. Chl meters allow to estimate the Chl content in relative units - the Chl index (CI). However, using such meters, one can face a problem of converting CI into absolute values of the pigment content and comparing data acquired with different devices and for different plant species. Many Chl meters (SPAD-502, CL-01, CCM-200) demonstrated a high degree of correlation between the CI and the absolute pigment content. A number of formulas have been deduced for different plant species to convert the CI into the absolute value of the photosynthetic pigment content. However, such data have not been yet acquired for the atLEAF+ Chl meter. The purpose of the present study was to assess the applicability of the atLEAF+ Chl meter for estimating the Chl content. A significant species-specific exponential relationships between the atLEAF value (corresponding to CI) and extractable Chl a, Chl b, Chl (a+b) for Calamus dioicus and Cleistanthus sp. were shown. The correlations between the atLEAF values and the content of Chl a, Chl b, and Chl (a+b) per unit of leaf area was stronger than that per unit of dry leaf mass. The atLEAF value- Chl b correlation was weaker than that of atLEAF value-Chl a and atLEAF value-Chl (a+b) correlations. The influence of light conditions (Chl a/b ratio) on the atLEAF value has been also shown. The obtained results indicated that the atLEAF+ Chl meter is a cheap and convenient tool for a quick nondestructive estimate of the Chl content, if properly calibrated, and can be used for this purpose along with other Chl meters., E. V. Novichonok, A. O. Novichonok, J. A. Kurbatova, E. F. Markovskaya., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
A new method of wild boar, Sus scrofa (Linnaeus), census tentatively called the “Carpathian technique” was tested in Poland during February and March 2000–2004. This method is based on the relationship between absolute population density (N/1000 ha of forest) and a snow track index (T/Km x day-1). The absolute density of wild boar was estimated on the basis of 177 sampling plots, of 400–500 ha. Snow tracks of wild boar were counted along line transects with a total length of 4,442 km. High correlation (r=0.59 - 0.88) between the density of tracks counted along line transects (T/Km*day-1) and species density calculated from sampling plots (N/1000 ha) has been obtained. This relationship was employed to calculate the density of wild boar in 58 Forest Districts and 2 National Parks. In forest districts and National Parks, the lowest density of wild boar i.e. 0.49 animals/1000 ha of forest was recorded in Bieszczady Mountains, and the highest density (120.7 individuals/1000 ha) was recorded in the Myślibórz Forest District. Over respective regions (that includes several forest districts and the sampled National Parks), density of wild boar was the lowest in Carpathian and Sudety Mountains, near density = 4.06 animals/1000 ha, while in north-eastern and southern lowland regions density varied from 9.0 to 19.71 animals/1000 ha, respectively. The highest density (36.7 animals/1000 ha) was recorded in north-western lowland forest region.